New Horizons 5: A global study of the youth and student traveller offers a global picture of the under-30 travel market. The New Horizons survey and report provide a consistent measure of youth travel and market trends over 20+ years and constitute a global baseline for the industry. Funded and administered by the WYSE Travel Confederation community rather than individual businesses, New Horizons is a powerful independent research tool for all travel and tourism stakeholders interested in the power of youth to shape the future of travel.
Here are four reasons we think hostels and other accommodation providers should read the latest report to come out of the New Horizons survey.
1. The global picture
This is a big one, so stick with us here…
You know your city. You know your property. You know your guests – or do you? 🤔
One of the most powerful things about youth travel is purpose. However, one of the tricky things about purpose is there’s usually more than one.
Do you know why your guests are visiting your city or country?
A weekend in your hostel is possibly one of many secondary trips that a student on an exchange semester, work & travel programme or internship abroad is making to take advantage of their time in your country.
How difficult was it for them to finally get to your hostel?
The New Horizons 5 survey revealed an increase in denied visa applications – those are travellers that never made it to your destination, let alone your hostel. V isas can be a significant barrier to international youth travel. If visas are a barrier to travellers, they’re also a barrier to your business.
In 2023 the proportion of travellers requiring a visa was almost 42% compared with 32% in 2017. New Horizons 5 can help you understand if visas are impacting your business and how to ally with those involved in the process, such as working holiday agents or study abroad advisors.
Where are young travellers looking to go next?
If your hostel brand has expansion plans, New Horizons survey data can suggest some of the cities that are top of mind and what factors into a good or bad travel experience in those cities for young visitors.
And how are they going to book that next trip?
New Horizons 5 indicates that the majority of youth travel bookings for air and surface travel were made directly with the supplier. The picture is different for accommodation, with OTAs and third-party websites ruling. Also, bookings for accommodation with physical travel agencies showed an up-tick in 2023, coming back to 2012 levels. New Horizons 5 can help you consider if you are optimising your distribution channels for the under-30 market and how these might differ by world region (hint: they do).
2. The lingo
Partnerships are important to your work and effective ones are maintained with trusted relationships. It’s difficult to build a relationship when you don’t have a shared, basic understanding of each other’s business.
New Horizons covers as much of the international youth travel marketplace as possible, offering a standardised lexicon to navigate the various sectors, products, programmes and services. This broad view allows you an otherwise difficult to access glimpse of your prospective partners’ business landscape. What is their lingo? What are the top concerns and opportunities? Where do you fit into all that? Sitting on their side of the table for a moment will give you a view on how a complementary partnership could work.
3. The future
Youth travel has remained fairly stable since WYSE Travel Confederation started tracking it in 2002. Even so, there are changes that happen slowly over time and New Horizons picks up on those. A couple of slow, but important shifts that you’ll read about in New Horizons 5 are:
- Growth in youth travel from emerging markets
- The trend towards shorter trips
- Evidence of more social and economic impact with longer trips
- Increased reliance on family, friends and social media for travel planning information, but surprisingly, also increased use of more traditional sources like travel agents and tour operators
- Using travel as a tool for relaxation and developing creativity
- Combining travel with activities that make a positive contribution to a destination
4. The now
New Horizons isn’t all about what you need to do differently or aren’t doing – it’s also about what you’re getting right. Benchmarking your performance in the global youth travel marketplace helps you to assess that. What exactly are you getting right? We’d love to hear how you’ve achieved a track record of success at an upcoming event for professionals in youth, student and educational travel.
More insights for your business in youth travel
For more insights on international youth travel, including free access to New Horizons 5: A global study of the youth and student traveller, join WYSE Travel Confederation the global network of travel industry specialists in youth, student and educational travel.